Greenland Ice Sheet Hydrology

Our goal in this project is to examine the nature and cause of short-term ice velocity changes near Swiss Camp, Greenland. Work focuses on the interactions between the ice sheet, the atmosphere and the bed through an integrated observational approach which involves borehole geophysics, surface-based GPS and modeling. We propose to: (1) measure changes in the subglacial water system over the summer season using a suite of borehole instrumentation; (2) measure the ice sheet response to changes in basal conditions with surface-based GPS, measured rates of borehole deformation and satellite data; (3) measure englacial and basal temperatures for input into flow models and to constrain estimates of ice deformation and; (4) correlate these data to melt and surface water volume proxies based on remote sensing data.This project is collaborative across three US-based institutions; UT, Dartmouth College (Bob Hawley), NASA (Tom Neumann and Matt Hoffman) and colleagues at ETH in Switzerland (Martin Lüthi and Martin Funk).

Uummannaq, 2013

This project involves a detailed investigation of interconnected processes using a variety of datasets: detailed in-situ ice, ocean and atmospheric measurements; ongoing airborne data collected through NASA's Operation IceBridge campaign; and archival and current remote sensing and climate reconstructions. With the help of coupled numerical models to refine interpretation, these data will be used to identify the processes that control individual glacier variability.

My involvement in this project is composed of field planning, logistics and instrument deployment.

Beyond Glaciology

Before pursuing my Ph.D., I worked at a small environmental consulting company in Northern California. My primary responsibilities involved the implementation and monitoring of long-term treatment facilities for acid mine drainage. The primary challenges involved implementing high quality water treatment principles in remote, difficult terrain.